Indian stock markets are expected to start Thursday's trading on a lower note, influenced by the overall weakness in global markets and awaiting April series derivative contracts' expiration. Tech stocks might face a selling pressure following disappointing expenditure forecasts and lower-than-projected revenues by Meta Platforms.
Hindustan Unilever's static quarterly profit in the context of sluggish sales and the Reserve Bank of India's order prohibiting Kotak Mahindra Bank from acquiring new customers via online and mobile banking platforms, as well as from issuing new credit cards, may also have a detrimental impact on the markets.
On Wednesday, benchmark indexes Sensex and Nifty experienced an approximate growth of 0.2 percent each, while the Indian Rupee remained largely steady, closing at 83.30 against the American Dollar.
Asian shares witnessed a broad-based drop, with leading indexes in South Korea and Japan posting more than 1 percent fall. The yen maintained a narrow trading range after plunging below 155 per dollar for the first time in over thirty years, ahead of a financial meeting by the Bank of Japan.
In response to forthcoming key economic data releases, gold displayed a slight rise while oil sustained a minor drop over concerns about demand.
Investors' anticipation for upcoming inflation and GDP data along with substantial tech results left the U.S. stocks with mixed results at the end of trading. Notably, new orders for key U.S.-manufactured capital goods showed moderate growth in March. However, the data for February was revised down, indicating low business equipment expenditure in the first quarter.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped by 0.1 percent, the S&P 500 remained largely unchanged but with a positive outlook, and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose marginally by 0.1 percent.
European shares lost their early gains and ended lower on Wednesday. Joachim Nagel, ECB policymaker and head of Bundesbank, commented that an interest rate cut in June might not necessarily indicate a series of such cuts in the future. This led to a 0.4 percent decline in the pan-European STOXX 600. Germany's DAX went down by 0.3 percent, France's CAC 40 dropped by 0.2 percent, and the UK's FTSE 100 closed with a slight decrease.
